Creating an HTML help system for web-based products

Rintjema, Laura; Warburton, Kara

doi:10.1145/296336.296386

Cited by 9 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…Many solutions have been created utilizing hypertext to provide easy access to help [11,20]. Though some work has been done on web based help systems [8,28], it has largely been based in the visual domain (images and Macromedia Flash [24]). Existing tutorials and help systems use video, PDF, Flash, and HTML, while relying heavily on pictures and animation.…”

Section: Existing Technology and Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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DTorial: An Interactive Tutorial Framework for Blind Users in a Web 2.0 World

Hailpern

Reid

Boardman

2009

Human-Computer Interaction – INTERACT 2009

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Abstract. Effective tutorial systems can help promote products by reducing barriers of learning new applications. With dynamic web applications becoming as complex as desktop programs, there is a growing need for online tutorial/help systems. For visually impaired users the key limitations of traditional help systems are 1) poor access to help content with assistive technology, and 2) frequent reliance on videos/images to identify parts of web applications and demonstrate functionality. In this paper, we present a new interaction model, targeted towards screen-reader users, that describes how to embed an interactive tutorial within a web application. The interaction model is demonstrated within a system called DTorial, a fully functional dynamic audiobased tutorial with embedded content. While remaining within the web application, users can rapidly access any tutorial content, injected inline near relevant application controls, allowing them to quickly apply what they just heard to the application itself, without ever losing their position or having to shift windows. The model and implementation are grounded in sighted user help-systems literature and an analysis of screen-reader and Web-Application interactions. Lessons learned from the incremental design and evaluations indicate that providing visually impaired users with dynamic, embedded, interactive audio-based tutorial systems can reduce the barriers to new WebApplications.

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Section: Existing Technology and Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are many guides for creating tutorials on the desktop [7,19,21,22] and for the Web [8,28], but less is known about how VIUs approach computer usage and their concerns with adopting new software. To gain further insight, we conducted five 2-hour interviews with members of the visually impaired community.…”

Section: Interviews With Visually Impaired Usersmentioning

confidence: 99%

DTorial: An Interactive Tutorial Framework for Blind Users in a Web 2.0 World

Hailpern

Reid

Boardman

2009

Human-Computer Interaction – INTERACT 2009

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“…What A large body of research has been developed in an attempt to effectively help users overcome these problems and attain their goals, i.e., acquire the desired information [7,8,12,13,15,16,17,23,27,28,33]. Our research draws on communicability evaluation [21] and the layering technique used in minimalist documentation [11] to build on existing research and propose a novel approach to online help design.…”

Section: Informativementioning

confidence: 99%

Designing online help systems for reflective users

Silveira¹,

Barbosa²,

Souza³

2004

J. Braz. Comp. Soc.

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Empirical studies have revealed that most users are dissatisfied with current help systems. One of the causes for many of the problems found in help systems is a lack of coupling between the process for creating online help and the human-computer interaction design of the application. In this paper, we present a method for building online help based on design models according to a Semiotic Engineering approach. We argue that there may be important benefits to the users if designers communicate their design vision, and we also point at the need to change current design practices to encourage creative and intelligent use of computer applications. We show how this proposal opens a direct communication channel from designers to users, and we hope this will contribute to introducing this new culture.

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“…There is literature that provides design and usability advice on how to build better help systems [3,4,5]. Others tested what aspects of embedded help systems are most usable.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Benefit analysis of user assistance improvements

Webb

Matsil

Sauro

2011

CHI '11 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems

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In this paper, we describe a study conducted to examine the impact of changes to our user assistance model in our enterprise software systems. In this study, we examined both a traditional user assistance model, as well as our new user assistance model.In the traditional user assistance model, users of a general ledger prototype were given inline error messages and access to a PDF version of the help manual from a help icon at the top of the page.In the new user assistance model, error messages appeared in pop-up windows with links to specific areas where users could correct the errors. Fields that needed to be changed were highlighted with a red border and when clicked, a description of the required change would appear. When users needed help, they could select from lists of relevant help topics available at different levels based on where they were working in the system.

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Creating an HTML help system for web-based products

Cited by 9 publications

References 0 publications

DTorial: An Interactive Tutorial Framework for Blind Users in a Web 2.0 World

DTorial: An Interactive Tutorial Framework for Blind Users in a Web 2.0 World

Designing online help systems for reflective users

Benefit analysis of user assistance improvements

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